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Through the Cheese Curtain

As we look forward to relocating after we sell our home, we’re taking “good-bye” visits to some of our favorite midwest locations. A great place to write, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is one of my most-frequented haunts.

As 22-year Illinoisans, we fondly think of our Wisconsin neighbors as “Cheese Heads.” Famous for beer, brats, cheese (curds), and the Green Bay Packers, Wisconsin is breathtakingly beautiful! And the people are some of the friendliest folks on earth.

74 thoughts on “Through the Cheese Curtain”

I hadn’t really though about it until you asked. I started to make a list and then decided I just can’t move. I can’t say goodbye just yet to all the people and places around me and my home is a place I love to be.

I’ve heard Lake Geneva is a very lovely place indeed. Would like to visit it some day. The pics of you and Len are so cute. What a thought–saying goodbye to a place–and perhaps never returning. Wondering if there’s a way that we can live each moment knowing we’ll never see that moment again? To be that alive to what is arising…? Hmmmm, thanks always, for the good food for thought.

I’m from England and I am about to move from my home town to West Wales. I live in a small town just outside Birmingham called Halesowen and we have Clent Hills just a little walk from my house . They are so beautiful and I will miss them .
Cherry

Don – Yes, it’s somewhat “bittersweet,” especially because our adult son is staying here (at least until he see’s if we live to tell about it). But that gives us another reason to come back (in non-winter months) to visit 🙂

When I went away to college, I had to visit the beach one last time before I left. And during the years I was in college, it slowly became apparent to me that I had to return to living by the ocean.

From another perspective, every time my daughter comes home to visit (usually twice a year), we always have a list of the places to go and things to do for her South Florida “fix.”. Last visit, she mentioned she didn’t know what she would do if WE moved away from South Florida.

Attachments are always interesting. Looking forward to seeing your new environment and hearing your stories there. You are a great storyteller!

The place where we had made our home, our children were born there, great friends who were like family, community not only at home and church but at work as well, a daycare in the parking lot at my work, Stone Mountain, Southern Cooking, the 1996 Summer Olympics, Bert’s Pumpkin Farm Trips in the Fall, Hilton Head Trips during the summer, Daisy Girl Scouts with Amanda, Amanda’s first snowstorm, Coca Cola Museum, Atlanta Braves Baseball games, potluck a with friends, the great job I had and the great lifetime friends along the way.
Cursillo Community, I could go on for days………
………….

Laurie, you asked – “If you were relocating, what favored place would you say good-bye to?”

Sadly, this morning, I think it is my online communities, except Facebook and WordPress blogs. Maybe it is just a dark night of the online community soul but it feels as though something in me has shattered so completely that there is no putting it back together again.

Guess we’ll all have to “stay tuned” for the answer to this drama in my own heart.

Thanks, Laurie, I wouldn’t know what would be helpful for me, at the moment. Yes, it’s a bit dark, and a bit teary, and it’s okay – really. I’m okay – really. So many of my friends have been in a similar place lately, it’s not really that surprising for me. Just caught me off-guard by the sudden force of the realizations. Thanks.

I visited Wisconsin once. It was very beautiful. But I know the winters are long as they were in Vermont where I spent 20 years before moving to Virginia. I love it here. Don’t think about moving. Unless my needs change, I’m here to stay.

Laurie, we also love Lake Geneva. It one of our favorite motorcycle day trips.

Your thought-provoking question made me grateful for all the lovely places my family and I have lived in and the wonderful friends we made in those communities. Those friends became our “local” family members because our Glazov Gang was all in Chicago.
It was difficult to say good-bye and know we would be seeing our friends less often.

If I had to say good-bye now, it would DEVASTATING to leave Chicago, because our children, grandchildren, brother, sister, nieces, nephews, cousins, and life-long friends live here. We’ve come and gone, but always joyfully returned to our Chicago roots.

Sheila – When the Navy transferred us here 20 years ago, we thought perhaps this will be our “forever” home. We were transferred from San Diego. Little did we know there was any place under God’s blue sky that could get so cold. We arrived on Valentine’s Day in 1991 – the windchill factor was 42-degrees BELOW zero.

Once Len retired from the Navy, it didn’t seem fair to move our growing son away from his well-established friendships. Now he’s a grown man who’s fully capable of shoveling his own snow 🙂

We want our next stop to be: not too hot, not too cold, but just right—with a gentle taste of each season.

Once our home sells, we’ll keep everyone posted as to where we relocate. As of right now, our compass is pointed toward the Pacific Northwest, where I hope we, too, will be Dunmovin 🙂

Thank you for taking me with you to Wisconsin, Laurie. It was my first visit–I hope to go back. : ) And they say that they only silly question is the one that wasn’t asked so… What’s a ‘brat’?
What would I say good-bye to if I was moving?
I live on a small, rural island. So you may imagine that my list would be brief but… It’s so long that it would take me a lifetime to say good-bye.
I really like what Kathy wrote: ‘live each moment knowing we’ll never see that moment again’. I hope to carry that thought in my heart for a long time.

Leanne – Different from a brat (naughty child), a brat (rhymes with caught) is a kissing cousin to a hot dog. They can be eaten in a bun (or not), and most people smother them with onions and spicy mustard.

From your images, I think I’d love Lake Geneva…when it’s hot and steamy in Texas! If we were to relocate…which I think would be exciting one of these days…My first place I’d say goodbye to would be downtown Austin. The Capitol sits at the very end of Congress Avenue and it takes my breath away every time I make the drive down the avenue. Next would be one of our favorite eateries overlooking Lake Travis (which is really low right now due to our drought:(

At 16 when we moved from here to Cleveland,Ohio, I was so excited to adventure forth. Now after 22 moves I am happy to be back here now for 38 years. As beautiful as so many places are and as lovely as the people I have met – the beauty of the ocean, sound surrounded by majestic mountains brings me to my home. The people here are very diverse, less formal and not casual about the environment. We saw someone throw a plastic bag from the car window ,sure enough it was out of state plates! A honk or two later, the litter bug had been reported.
Maybe my joints are lubricated with mildew!
Truly I think I can only take vacations away. I do not think I could say goodbye again. Then again, if I had to I probably could live anywhere. Saying goodbye to family the toughest journey of all

Laurie, I have just relocated after calling a place home after 7 years of living there. Your post brought about so many memories of bidding farewell, still fresh in my mind. Loved your post..Good luck.

I relocated 15 years ago, from Waitakaruru (where I had lived for 34 years) to Kaikoura.

I have no intention of relocating from Kaikoura, at least not until I have a habitat in space stocked with a full suite of earth ecosystems, and protected by some very advanced technologies. I expect that will take a few thousand years to organise. So while I expect to do quite a bit of travelling between now and then, I expect to keep Kaikoura as my base of operations, even if I may be away from it for a few years at a time.

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.” I. Love. This. Quote!!! So much!!!
Oh so bittersweet this must be for you! Your pics show me a place I would love to visit! (I must say I have never seen a solar powered meter!) We have moved many times…there is excitement, dread, and hard work involved in each relocation. I still tell my hubby….”I have one more move in me.” Exploring the new areas …..and visiting the old later = awesome. ♥

Laurie, I trust that you and Len will find the best place for your winter tolerance to hold, and for your writing to blossom. I take it then that Wisconsin is still under consideration? Still, maybe I’m mis-reading this as the cheese state (love those beautiful photos!) offers no respite for winter excess. I always thought of Canada’s Prince Edward Island as the ultimate paradise, but of course I’ve never been there to confirm. One day for sure. I look forward to learning about and seeing the lovely new Buchanan homestead!

Sam – Wisconsin is not in the running. It get’s even colder than we do here in Illinois. As of right now we have our sights set on the Pacific Northwest region. That could all change in a heartbeat, but if we were to relocate this very instant, that’s where we’d head.

Victoria – The winters in the greater Chicagoland area are brutal, to be sure. We’ve lived here for over 20 years now and once our home sells will relocate to a milder area where there are still four seasons, none of which smack a person upside the head 🙂

I would say good bye to the big sky which is sort of like a zen poem because of course the sky is everywhere, right? No. Arizona’s sky is transcendent. There is no other like it. Of course I’m biased. But maybe it’s the juxtaposition of the sky against the dry cracked earth or the way it wraps a ponderosa forest like a package, no matter, whenever I’m away from AZ I miss the sky.

I must say, a solar-powered parking meter is new to me – what a good idea! Wisconsin looks like a colorful place, I like the red door in the entrance way of that beautiful building – a church perhaps? If I were to relocate I would have to say good-bye to “my” beach.

had never thought to ask that question, and then, once I tried to answer it, it made me realize that most of my “treasured spots” are not even near where I live, but are actually in another state …. but if I was choosing based on close proximity, I suppose it would have to be the little town of Gruene, TX. It has a lovely winding river, beautiful fall foliage, and lots of little antique shops and artisan and craftsman stores to wander amongst for hours on end. And there is a huge grist mill restaurant, with patios that overhang the river below. Lovely spot to spend an afternoon. I just might have to consider doing exactly that, and soon. 🙂

Your photos were lovely! I especially like the one of you with the pizza man statue. 🙂

While relocating might be a necessary or exciting thing for some people, both Hubby and I are not too crazy about change. Saying goodbye to my family’s cottage was hard enough. The likelihood of us moving away from the city where I was born and we both grew up is pretty slim. Even with retirement less than a decade away, there isn’t a place I can think of where I would move permanently, despite the extreme winter temperatures here. We’ve been in our current house almost 35 years. We even bought my parents’ home for our daughter, so the house I grew up in is still in my family. I love the history of my home town and incorporate my favourite places in my writing, so for us to consider relocating is really a moot point. Traveling to warmer climates might be fun, but I doubt there would ever be a place we’d want to move to permanently. 🙂

I wish you all the best with your move. May you both find yourself at home and at peace in your new surroundings. 🙂